Airman's suicide spurs call for more oversight

Pride of service turns to pain for New York man who suffered from "the darkness ... of PTSD"

Published 11:24 pm, Friday, April 6, 2012

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio talk about their grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at their home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio talk about their grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at their home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( ... more

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio talk about their grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at their home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio talk about their grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at their home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( ... more

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Melody Digregorio talks about her grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at her home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union) less

Melody Digregorio talks about her grandson Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder, who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, at her home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. ... more

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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A family history of military service portraits on the walls of Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

A family history of military service portraits on the walls of Guiseppe and Melody Digregorio home in Stamford, N.Y. Friday Feb.24, 2012. ( Michael P. Farrell/Times Union)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Military portrait of Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide. ( Courtesy of the DiGregorio Family)

Military portrait of Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide. ( Courtesy of the DiGregorio Family)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

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Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder ,who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, in a photo of him skydiving after returning home from military service. ( Courtesy of the DiGregorio Family)

Sr. Airman Edward Andrew Snyder ,who returned from the Iraq War with PTSD and committed suicide, in a photo of him skydiving after returning home from military service. ( Courtesy of the DiGregorio Family)

Photo: Michael P. Farrell

Airman's suicide spurs call for more oversight

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STAMFORD — Framed portraits make up the family's Wall of Honor.

Pictures of men in uniform dating back to World War I watch over Guiseppe and Melody DiGregorio's log home in the Catskill Mountains. One photo is of a handsome munitions journeyman in a military cap. He's Edward Andrew Snyder.

The young man's grandparents recalled recently how proud they were of "Drew," how he grew up healthy and happy and followed in the footsteps of Guiseppe DiGregorio and his uncle by joining the Air Force.

But pride turned to pain when the DiGregorios recounted Snyder's return. Weeks after coming home to Long Island, he withdrew into anxious isolation. After being was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, the senior airman was discharged from the military and became a disabled veteran. Over the next few years, he slid into despair even as he worked to fulfill dream of becoming a New York City photojournalist. On Dec. 9, Snyder killed himself with a shotgun in his apartment on Long Island. He was 24.

"He could no longer deal with the darkness, the heaviness of PTSD," Melody DiGregorio said. "He did not feel he could get out of it."

More Information

Reading the signs

The national Veterans' Crisis Line can be reached at 800-273-8255.

Here are signs that a veteran could be depressed and considering suicide:

Appearing sad or depressed most of the time

Deep sadness, loss of interest, trouble sleeping and eating -- that doesn't go away or continues to get worse

Feeling anxious, agitated, or unable to sleep

Neglecting personal welfare, deteriorating physical appearance

Withdrawing from friends, family, and society, or sleeping all the time

Losing interest in hobbies, work, school, or other things one used to care about

Frequent and dramatic mood changes

Expressing feelings of excessive guilt or shame

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

The tragedy of Drew Snyder's death sends a stark message about the difficulties modern members of the military face as an unprecedented number of service members return from Iraq and Afghanistan with combat-related stress. His grandparents say his story provides lessons about the unpredictable nature of PTSD and of the need for better monitoring of emotionally injured vets. The safety net for traumatized veterans didn't work for their grandson, and they said they wanted others to avoid the same fate.

One of Snyder's biggest obstacles to getting treatment was facing the stigma in military circles of a diagnosis of mental illness, Melody DiGregorio said. The DiGregorios believe a change in Snyder's medications may have contributed to his suicidal state. Snyder refused to enter a VA mental hospital unit for fear of being branded "crazy" by other veterans, his grandparents said.

"We've got to eliminate the 'D' in PTSD," Guiseppe DiGregorio said. "Get rid of that word."

PTSD has come under renewed scrutiny since a soldier in his fourth deployment was charged with killing 17 Afghan civilians, including nine children, on March 11. An attorney for the Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales has said he suffered from depression, traumatic brain injury and PTSD.

More than 212,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans have suffered varying levels of PTSD, which causes anxiety and panic, according to the Department of Veterans Affairs, but less than half of veterans take advantage of health and disability benefits they are entitled to.

Funding for mental health services for veterans is at an all-time high, but the programs are spread out and reaching wounded vets remains a challenge, veterans advocates say.

The agency connects about 7,000 veterans and family members with earned benefits. The struggle, Davis said, is convincing vets with PTSD to get proper care. "The military culture goes against asking for help and showing weakness because, unfortunately, that gets you killed in a combat zone," said Davis, who served two tours in Afghanistan and one in Iraq.

The 30-year-old former Army Ranger recently advised national and state leaders on helping veterans with PTSD. He spoke before a House of Representatives Veterans Affairs subcommittee and at a hearing at the Capitol in Albany led by state Sens. Roy McDonald of Saratoga, who fought in the Vietnam War, and Lee Zeldin of Long Island, an Iraq War veteran.

The lawmakers announced last week a mentor program targeting veterans with PTSD and traumatic brain injury. Named after an Iraq war veteran with PTSD who committed suicide, the Pfc. Joseph Dwyer Program enables veterans to help wounded veterans. The 2012-13 state budget includes $800,000 for the pilot program in Saratoga, Rensselaer, Suffolk and Jefferson counties.

About 6,500 veterans a year commit suicide in the U.S., according to the VA. Three years ago, 98 Afghanistan/Iraq veterans took their own lives, according to the VA. In January 2012, the month after Snyder died, 15 U.S. airmen committed suicide, up 33 percent from last January. The Air Force reported 42 total suicides in all of 2011.

The massacre in Afghanistan has jeopardized America's 10-year mission. Snyder's suicide upended his family just before Christmas. His mother, Tina DiGregorio, is still too upset to speak about it. It was she and his sister, Katie Snyder, who discovered the body. Guiseppe and Melody DiGregorio are outraged that Tina, a single mother, had to hold fundraisers to help pay for her son's cremation and funeral because the nation does not cover cremation expenses for veterans.

Snyder grew up on Long Island, the oldest of three children. "His goal was to travel the world for his photography," said Guiseppe DiGregorio, 71, a retired fire department chief on Long Island.

Snyder stood a trim 5-foot-10 and was known to break into pushups during conversations. A artistic guy with a sensitive side, his favorite song was the Beatles' "Let it Be." He started taking pictures while in the Air Force. He snapped photographs in Tokyo, Paris, Rome, Berlin, Sydney and Qatar. He created a his own website for the art.

Snyder was sent to an American base in Qatar in 2008, where he assigned bombs and loaded weaponry aboard planes bound for Iraq and Afghanistan. Beyond that, his family knows little of his time overseas. They said he didn't talk about his tour of duty.

Back on Long Island, Snyder began to have nightmares and exhibit personality changes. The Air Force assigned him to Japan, where military doctors diagnosed him with PTSD, Melody DiGregorio said. Stricken by panic attacks and trauma, he left active duty in 2010 at 23. He couldn't find a job and didn't enjoy the things he used to. He'd call his grandparents late at night to discuss politics and the Air Force.

In the final months of his life, Snyder was admitted to the visual arts program at Hunter College in Manhattan. He found work as a photojournalist for the online magazine SpotonLI. He interviewed Jim Breuer, one of his favorite comedians.

"He was so thankful and happy," his editor, Christine Gerani Gerani, wrote. Snyder had landed an interview with the music magazine VZ Magazine.

He seemed normal at Thanksgiving, his grandparents recalled, and then in the last days of his life, he visited and did something for everyone in his family.